The present invention relates to automatic throttle controllers and, in particular, to controllers which balance the thrust among a group of engines in a vehicle having a plurality of engines such as an aircraft.
It is known that a pilot of such an aircraft ought to adjust the throttle of each of the engines to balance them. Thrust imbalance requires a compensating rudder adjustment or other yaw compensation which tends to increase the aircraft drag. It is known to have an automatic throttle in an aircraft which can regulate the throttle and maintain a predetermined speed. It is also known to set aircraft speed to produce either a maximum range or a maximum endurance or flight time.
A disadvantage of aircraft having a plurality of engines is that the Pilot must manually adjust the several engine throttles to keep them in balance by observing thrust indicators such as a turbine tachometer or an engine pressure ratio meter (EPR). Such manual adjustments are time consuming and distract the pilot from other duties.
Accordingly, there is a need for a simple system for automatically balancing engine thrust while providing other functions such as speed control.